Leading Forward : Leadership And Academic Worlds

1927 WordsSep 26, 20148 Pages

Leading Forward: Leadership in the Twenty-First Century
There seems to be a long standing fascination with what makes a leader. Studies dating back to 1869 attempt to identify the characteristics these “extraordinary individuals” possess. (McCkleskey, 2014). The study of leadership became a topic of interest to both the business and academic worlds at the beginning of the twentieth century when scholars being applying the scientific method to social processes (Unsar & Karalar 2013). However, what these studies have found over the years, is that there isn’t one set of common characteristics found when leaders are compared; there isn’t that one “thing” that stands apart. (Hoffman & Woehr 2011). In all of the studies conducted over the…show more content…

Hoch and Morgeson (2014) offer another problem which arises in leadership studies; studies are primarily completed by focusing on one leadership source, not allowing for adequate comparison between sources of leadership. While, as mentioned above, studies have not found a common physical or personality characteristics between leaders, Bennis (1992) states that there is, in fact, something leaders have in common; leaders have a vision. Colin Powell, when speaking at the 2013 Global Leadership Summit, said that good leaders have a vision and are constantly repeating and guiding others to achieve that vision (GLS 2013). Bill Hybles (GLS 2013), the founder of the Global Leadership Summit, continues this thought and said that the first goal of a leader is to inspire vision. He also states that when a leader has a vision of “here to there”, the leader must be able to inspire a team to make the transitions from “here to there” to reach the goals of the vision or the vision will die.
The study of leadership has shown that there is not a single method or model that works best in every situation (Landis 2011). In order to lead effectively and remain competitive and relevant, those who lead will need to become flexible in their leadership styles and develop a global mindset. To do this, leaders need to have an understanding the stereotypes of leadership, the different leadership models, the difference between managing and leading, the